Temple Mount: Arabs Pelt Jewish Visitors with Stones

Police forces were dispatched on Wednesday to break up Muslim stone throwers who were targeting Jewish visitors on the Temple Mount (Har Habayit).

As soon as stones were thrown and riots broke out, police forces stepped in to make arrests.

Security forces were prepared for a riot as this incident follows renewed incitement by Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Raed Salah, who called for Muslims to physically prevent Jews from visiting the Temple Mount last week.

Yesterday, the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel was arrested on charges of "incitement against Israel and regarding the Temple Mount," and is currently being questioned by police.

This morning's attack on Jewish visitors is likely connected to Salah’s claim last week to his followers that Israel is planning to “break in” to the Temple Mount, on which the Islamic Al Aqsa compound is located, built atop the ruins of two Jewish Temples.

After warning of the alleged "danger" of increased Jewish prayer at the site, Salah called on Muslims from across Israel - from the Negev and Galilee, Akko and Haifa - to descend on the Temple Mount to prevent the “dangerous mass invasion into Al Aqsa” with their bodies.

In the past, such statements have led the Israeli Police to close off the Temple Mount to Jews, out of concern that Jewish presence at the holy site could be met with Muslim riots, which on Wednesday proved to be true.